The present invention relates to an alerting device. An alerting device generates a signal to indicate that an event or a condition has occurred. A smoke detector, for example, contains an alerting device that commonly generates a loud sound to alert people that smoke has been detected. Alerting devices can be configured to signal the occurrence of a wide variety of events or conditions, including equipment failures, inventory depletion, resource consumption, emergency situations, security breaches, communication attempts, timed events and others. Alerting devices can also signal such an occurrence in many different ways. For example, a smoke detector for a person that is hearing impaired may illuminate a bright, flashing light, instead of generating a sound.
Referring more specifically to a telephone application, an alerting device for indicating an incoming telephone call is herein referred to as a telephone ringing device. Typical telephone ringing devices previously consisted of mechanical bell devices that were activated by an electrical ring signal. More recent telephone ringing devices have various other methods for generating an audible sound, or otherwise indicating the event of an incoming call. For example, some telephone ringing devices contain a speaker for generating one or more audible tones. Some telephone ringing devices also generate different sounds to indicate whether a telephone call originated from within a company or from outside the company. Also, although many current telephone ringing devices no longer generate "ringing" sounds, as in the ringing of a bell, the "ring" terminology is still used.